Motylev in Great Shape at European Championship

Alexander Motylev of Russia is on a roll at the European Championship in Yerevan. The 34-year-old grandmaster from Yekaterinenburg today won against Pavel Eljanov in a Sicilian after 41 moves, to increase his lead to a full point.

It's high time to return to the European Championship in Yerevan! In this report we're gonna catch up and look at some nice games from rounds 2-8, so that we'll be completely updated on the latest developments, including today. (The tournament lasts 11 rounds in total.)

After the many upsets in the first round, the second round (on Tuesday, March 4th) was marked by many draws on the top boards: six of the seven top games ended peacefully. Denis Khismatullin defeated Vitaly Golod from an English opening:

Denis Khismatullin

A very interesting game was the following, where 62-year-old Vaganian sacrificed material and got a strong attack, but eventually lost to his Ukrainian opponent.

Ernesto Inarkiev found a pretty combination that ended with a 'silent move'. Can you find it?

Also in the third round there were quite a few draws at the top. The following game, on board one, ended decisively:

The security forces in Yerevan like to play a bit as well

Blunders are part of the game too, and in this round it happened to Spanish GM Ivan Salgado Lopez. In a not too difficult endgame he took back the wrong piece:

The fourth round saw an absolutely stunning game between Aleksandr Shimanov and Baadur Jobava. It's really hard to describe what was going on - even engines have a hard time and it's doubtful that the players really knew themselves! Just play through the moves and enjoy this fascinating battle.

After four rounds only Evgeniy Najer of Russia was still on 100%, but he went down to one of his many compatriots the next day. It was a game between the two coaches of the Russian women's team:

Alexander Motylev joined Riazantsev in the lead with the following win:

Gabriel Sargissian had a nice finish in his game against Karen Grigoryan - can you find it?

Gabriel Sargissian

In another all-Russian battle on board one, Motylev defeated Riazantsev from a Caro-Kann - the Two Knights Variation. Black eventually suffered from not developing his queenside:

During the rest day (Sunday) Motylev was half a point ahead of Radek Wojtaszek of Poland, Hrant Melkumyan and Viktor Laznicka of Czech Republic.

Alexander Motylev

In round 7 Motylev drew with Wojtaszek but kept his half-point lead as Melkumyan and Laznicka also split the point. And then, in today's 8th round, Motylev won another (excellent) white game, against Pavel Eljanov. The board caught fire on move 18:

Motylev has a full point lead with three rounds to go. Note that the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup; the 23 highest ranked players after 11 rounds will qualify.

European Championship 2014 | Round 8 Standings (Top 40)

Rk.

SNo

Naam

FED

RtgI

Pts.

TB1

TB2

TB3

TB4

Rp

1

33

GM

Motylev Alexander

RUS

2656

7

2611

33,5

36,5

6

2918

2

53

GM

Najer Evgeniy

RUS

2633

6

2635

37

41

5

2791

3

62

GM

Melkumyan Hrant

ARM

2613

6

2634

36

39

4

2784

4

8

GM

Wojtaszek Radoslaw

POL

2713

6

2628

40

44

4

2799

5

48

GM

Fedoseev Vladimir

RUS

2641

6

2625

34,5

37,5

5

2784

6

99

GM

Anton Guijarro David

ESP

2559

6

2620

32

35

5

2756

7

66

GM

Solak Dragan

TUR

2610

6

2614

35,5

39

4

2764

8

44

GM

Smirin Ilia

ISR

2644

6

2604

35

39

5

2767

9

15

GM

Navara David

CZE

2700

6

2590

34

37

5

2762

10

24

GM

Laznicka Viktor

CZE

2681

6

2588

36

39,5

4

2759

11

22

GM

Akopian Vladimir

ARM

2682

6

2560

35

38,5

4

2734

12

59

GM

Perunovic Milos

SRB

2617

6

2560

31,5

34,5

6

2723

13

9

GM

Moiseenko Alexander

UKR

2712

6

2554

31,5

34,5

5

2734

14

40

GM

Popov Ivan

RUS

2650

6

2553

33,5

37

4

2723

15

91

GM

Goganov Aleksey

RUS

2569

5,5

2660

36,5

39

3

2740

16

63

GM

Pashikian Arman

ARM

2612

5,5

2631

36

40

3

2728

17

2

GM

Eljanov Pavel

UKR

2723

5,5

2624

34

37,5

4

2745

18

3

GM

Jakovenko Dmitry

RUS

2723

5,5

2612

36,5

39,5

3

2733

19

12

GM

Kryvoruchko Yuriy

UKR

2706

5,5

2602

34

37,5

3

2722

20

61

GM

Tregubov Pavel V.

RUS

2614

5,5

2596

32,5

35,5

3

2696

21

18

GM

Polgar Judit

HUN

2693

5,5

2594

34

38

3

2714

22

84

GM

Grigoriants Sergey

RUS

2574

5,5

2593

33

36,5

4

2684

23

11

GM

Fressinet Laurent

FRA

2709

5,5

2591

36

40

4

2713

24

26

GM

Sargissian Gabriel

ARM

2676

5,5

2590

35

39

3

2707

25

57

IM

Artemiev Vladislav

RUS

2621

5,5

2585

34

37

4

2682

26

29

GM

Zhigalko Sergei

BLR

2671

5,5

2571

34,5

38

3

2691

27

17

GM

Matlakov Maxim

RUS

2695

5,5

2569

31

34

3

2687

28

36

GM

Sjugirov Sanan

RUS

2653

5,5

2562

34

37,5

4

2679

29

42

GM

Hammer Jon Ludvig

NOR

2647

5,5

2524

31,5

35

3

2646

30

31

GM

Saric Ivan

CRO

2661

5,5

2519

30,5

33,5

4

2628

31

39

GM

Balogh Csaba

HUN

2651

5,5

2509

33

36

3

2632

32

34

GM

Lysyj Igor

RUS

2655

5,5

2500

32

35,5

3

2626

33

54

GM

Swiercz Dariusz

POL

2631

5,5

2495

32

36

4

2616

34

38

GM

Sutovsky Emil

ISR

2652

5,5

2494

29,5

32,5

4

2620

35

119

IM

Rozum Ivan

RUS

2505

5

2637

35

37

3

2665

36

65

GM

Hovhannisyan Robert

ARM

2611

5

2624

36

38,5

3

2675

37

69

GM

Salgado Lopez Ivan

ESP

2605

5

2622

33

36

3

2672

38

55

GM

Kovalenko Igor

LAT

2626

5

2611

35,5

39,5

4

2672

39

41

GM

Shimanov Aleksandr

RUS

2649

5

2608

35

39

4

2673

40

16

GM

Inarkiev Ernesto

RUS

2698

5

2608

34,5

38

3

2680

The European Individual Chess Championship 2014 takes place 2-15 March in Yerevan, Armenia with over 260 players from 27 countries.

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